The responsibility of geologists in defining the Anthropocene

The Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), a constituent body of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), established the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) in 2009 to examine the Anthropocene as a potential new formal division of the Geological Time Scale (GTS). In October 2023 the AWG submitted the formal proposal to ICS, which in March 2024 rejected the proposal. Among the humanities and Earth system scientists, only the geologists, more than anyone else, have the cultural and technical tools to be aware of the exceptionality of today’s times and to place them in deep time context. For example, dealing with one of the main threats, the climate crisis, few are aware that the speed and scale of anthropogenic release rate of the CO2 are unprecedented during the Cenozoic (last 66 Ma). The rejection of Anthropocene formalization hinders the communication, to the public and to policymakers, of the exceptionality of what physically the Anthropocene is, and of the related catastrophic risks to human civilization. Geologists have a responsibility to inform society about the risks young people will face in the near future, and formalization of the Anthropocene represents an extraordinary opportunity in this respect, that has been missed for now.